Viovy J L
Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Théorique (URA CNRS 1382) Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de Paris, France.
Mol Biotechnol. 1996 Aug;6(1):31-46. doi: 10.1007/BF02762321.
In this review, we present the main aspects of the reptation theory, which has provided an essential insight into the processes at work during DNA electrophoretic separation in gels. We avoid mathematical developments, and rely as much as possible on an intuitive description. We first present the original biased reptation model, which assumes that the DNA threads its way as a "worm" of fixed length among the fibers of the gel. We then introduce a more recent version, the model of Biased Reptation with Fluctuations (BRF), which allows for longitudinal flexibility along the DNA. We then propose a quantitative comparison with experiments performed in constant field, and discuss the application of reptation theories to pulsed field techniques either with crossed fields or with field inversion. We also discuss at some length the different experiments that led to a criticism of reptation ideas, such as orientation measurements and videomicroscopy. Finally, we use these experiments together with various computer simulations developed recently for gel electrophoresis, to propose a more realistic qualitative description of DNA motion in gels, and we discuss what elements in this motion are relevant to reptation and what processes are not included in present analytical models.
在本综述中，我们介绍了蠕动理论的主要方面，该理论为凝胶中DNA电泳分离过程中的作用机制提供了重要见解。我们避免数学推导，尽可能依赖直观描述。我们首先介绍原始的有偏蠕动模型，该模型假设DNA像一条固定长度的“蠕虫”一样在凝胶纤维中穿行。然后我们引入一个更新的版本，即带涨落的有偏蠕动模型（BRF），该模型考虑了DNA沿纵向的柔韧性。接着我们与在恒定电场中进行的实验进行定量比较，并讨论蠕动理论在交叉电场或场反转的脉冲电场技术中的应用。我们还详细讨论了导致对蠕动观点提出批评的不同实验，如取向测量和视频显微镜观察。最后，我们将这些实验与最近为凝胶电泳开发的各种计算机模拟相结合，对凝胶中DNA的运动提出更现实的定性描述，并讨论该运动中哪些元素与蠕动相关以及哪些过程未包含在当前的分析模型中。
